a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrician's fish tape reel assembly which is ergonomically designed for ease, safety and convenience in pushing or pulling fish tape through conduit by utilizing only one hand. The fish reel tape comprises means for measuring and displaying the length of tape feed, a thumb brake for locking the fish tape, and means for storing the tape efficiently on the tape spool.
b) Description of Related Art
In the course of disposing electrical wiring through a is conduit it is customary for the electrician to pass a so-called fish tape back through the conduit to the opposite end of the conduit where the lead end of the electrical wiring is presented. The lead end of the wire is fastened to the lead end of the tape and the tape is retracted to pull the wire forward. The tape may also be used to obtain an approximation of the location of an obstruction in the conduit.
There was a time when the cost of wasted wire could be disregarded. The electrician was not particularly concerned about wasting several feet when overestimating the length of wire required. In the present market the cost factor of wasted wire is of significance; therefore, an accurate counter has become an increasingly significant feature in an electrician's fish tape.
Various mechanisms and reels have been used to house a fish tape, with assorted arrangements for paying the tape out of the case during use. Prior art reels typically use the inside surface of an outer peripheral wall of the reel to constrain the coil. This wall is circumferentially split to define a slot extending around the reel to allow the tape to be extracted from the reel. The halves of the wall normally meet to enclose the coiled tape but they are flexed or spread apart by a winder at the point where the tape exists. The winder can be pushed or pulled around the circumference of the reel to pay out the outer end of the tape. Thus, in essence, the exit opening in the reel moves around the periphery of the reel. U.S. Pat. No. 3,424,435 shows an example of this type of reel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,516 discloses a fish tape reel in which the tape is wound on the outside diameter of a hub. The hub is rotatably mounted inside of an annular outer race. A stationary handle is fixed on the outside of the race. A knob is pivotally attached to the hub. A user can hold the handle with one hand and the knob with the other to rotate the hub and cause the tape to move into the reel. This design, however, suffers from many drawbacks such as the necessity for two-handed use by the operator and the inefficient distribution and recall of the fish tape.
Despite the attempts of the prior art, there exists a need in the prior art for a fish tape reel which is ergonomically designed for ease, safety and convenience in pushing or pulling fish tape through conduit by utilizing only one hand.
The need also exists for effective fish tape leader design which facilitates ease and convenience of feeding the tape through a conduit and retrieval of the tape back into the fish tape reel.